I have read all of the Harry Hole police procedural mysteries by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo, but read them out of order. Which probably was a good thing . . .
Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. Jo Nesbo is one of the world’s bestselling crime writers, with The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son and his latest Harry Hole novel, The Thirst, all topping the Sunday Times bestseller charts. He’s an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 33 million copies around the world. Jo Nesbo wrote the bulk of his first novel in a frenzy during a visit to Australia. Credit: AFP Nesbo came up with Harry Hole, the Norwegian policeman about whom he has now written nine novels. The Bat, by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo is the first of the Inspector Harry Hole (pronounced Hoo-leh) novels. Set in Australia of all places, Nesbo introduces our hero as a foreign policeman sent on a diplomatic mission to assist with the investigation of the murder of.
THE BAT is the first in the series, but was only recently made available in English and for Kindle. I was thrilled to read it, as the subsequent books in the series refer to Harry’s investigation of a serial killer in Australia. But as I gobbled it up, literarily speaking, one thought kept surfacing: this is a strange way to start a detective series.
The book introduces Harry Hole as an Oslo detective sent to Sydney, Australia to assist in the investigation of the murder of a Norwegian woman who was a moderately successful Norwegian TV star. His guide throughout the investigation is an Australian detective named Kensington who is of Aboriginal descent. Kensington’s boss isn’t thrilled to have Harry there and wants to shut him out even as Kensington keeps introducing Harry to strange folks in the outback as well as in bars in Sydney’s red light district called King’s Cross.
Now, I’ve been to both Oslo and Sydney (including a night of clubbing in King’s Cross) and the two cities have a lot in common. They are both vibrant and modern with an athletic vibe and a well-educated populace. Lots of tall white people in rock band tees. Just like Harry.
Jo Nesbo The Bat Pdf
But Nesbo makes the differences really speak to the reader by using the murder investigation to reveal the lifestyle, history, and integration difficulties of Australia’s Aboriginal population. We discover pain and passion through Harry’s eyes in a way that neither the Norwegian detective nor the reader expect to do so.
The serial killer does bad stuff, the ending is full of suspense, a romance goes awry, and the roots of Harry’s self-destructive behavior—more of a central issues in later books—are revealed. But overall, I can’t shake the feeling that this was an odd way to start a mystery series, because at no time do we see Harry as particularly Norwegian or in his natural element. We don’t meet his colleagues or understand the context for any continuing series. I recognized places in Australia, and loved the great descriptions, easy dialogue, and twisty plotting. But I’m not sure I’d be compelled to read more in a series set in Norway if I only had this story to go on.
Bottom line? Read THE BAT by Jo Nesbo, but not as your introduction to the Harry Hole series.
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Jo Nesbo The Bat
A Scandinavian crime thriller with a difference, this one is set far from the fjords in the “Lucky Country” of Australia. The Lucky Country didn’t prove too lucky for Inger Holter, a Norwegian girl on a gap year in Sydney, whose body is found on the Pacific coast. Harry Hole (pronounced “Holy” by the Aussies) is sent by the Norwegians to assist the New South Wales Police. This is the first of the Harry Hole series (there have been 11 to date). In Australia, Harry is a bit like a fish out of water, a maverick cop and recovering alcoholic, things start off quite well for Harry, he meets a lovely Swedish girl named Birgitta. But then Harry falls off the wagon. Andrew Kensington, his new aboriginal buddy ends up dead and then things start spiralling out of control as Harry turns to his old pal Jim Beam for succour. The plot has several twists, as it turns out their murderer is a serial killer, but the pace is patchy, a lot of Dreamtime stories add to the local colour but don’t add much to the plot. The Bat of the title is a Dreamtime omen of death, a bat of the willow variety comes to play in a bar room brawl, giving one of the characters serious concussion. This is well written and well researched, the Australian backdrop has an authentic feel, but I prefer the more mature work later in the series like “The Leopard” .
Jo Nesbo The Bat Synopsis
My rating : 4 out of 5